Along the way....I met Maya

So it was a normal day for me. I was parking my car to head in to see one of my dealers, Ira's Bike shop in Arroyo Grande.

Suddenly, just a few feet away from me, I saw this young gal have a pretty bad crash on her bike. It was a nasty crash, actually, and I immediately went to her aid. I basically had to run after her and tell her to stop (the adrenaline and embarrassment of the crash made her just get up and attempt to take off on her bike!)I convinced her to get off her bike, have a seat on the curb, and then I worked on calming her down by asking her to take a few deep breaths, and telling her she could trust me, because I too, was a bike rider and I knew what it was like to crash (little did she know how many times!!). We made our way over to the nearby public restroom to clean her up and we called her Mom. I stayed with her til her Mom could get out of work and come take her to the Emergency Room. In the meantime, I congratulated her for her bravery, and for wearing a helmet, and of course I showed her all my scars from the bunches of crashes I have had over the years.....but told her I still love to ride bike, even after all my crashes.

So...her Mom came, they hugged, they packed up the bike and off they went to see the doctor. That was that. Or so I thought.

This week Maya's mother called me and our conversation nearly brought me to tears. She told me about Maya and how shy she is, and how this was a big step in life that they were taking to have her start riding her bike to and from school (I think Maya must be about twelve or thirteen years old...and just learned to pedal on two wheels a year ago or so). Sandy, Maya's mom, told me that the day after the accident she told Maya that she didn't have to ride her bike to school anymore if she didn't want to and Maya looked at her and said...."Mom, that is the best part of my day."

.....that's the part that almost brought me to tears. How cool is that. What a trooper. Below is an email I received from Maya just recently. It made my day.

I think I have made a new friend :)






Hi It's Maya. Thank you soooo much for helping me on last Tuesday. I went to the urgent care and they gave me stitches. The wound under my nose is healing, but the one on my knee hurts the most. I'm feeling better, and Ira fixed my bike.
If you hadn't been there, a lot of bad things could have happened.


Maya